“Can I point out that I like how you say, ‘our future?’”
“I would prefer that you not, but since you already have, I assume that’s a yes?”
“It is.” Casteel guided the older mare down the road. “We must talk about our marriage.”
“What about it?”
“I think you already know, Princess.”
I squinted at the setting sun. From the moment I’d learned that Spessa’s End had been reclaimed, I had a feeling this conversation was coming.
“What I’m about to say will probably concern you. I don’t want it to.”
I tensed. “When you start conversations like that, it will inevitably cause me concern.”
“Understandable, but know that what guides my decisions is an abundance of caution and anticipation of potential issues,” he said.
“Just so you know, this is the most unromantic conversation having to do with marriage that I’ve ever heard.”
“I cannot disagree with that,” he replied, and goosebumps pimpled my skin in response to the seriousness of his tone. “I’d originally planned for us to marry once we reached Saion’s Cove and then travel to Evaemon, the heart of Atlantia.”
“Is that where your parents live?”
“Yes.”
“You planned for us to marry before I met your parents?”
“It would make things far less complicated if we did,” he reasoned.
I may have been sheltered my entire life, but I was no fool. “You want to marry before they have a chance to stop us.”
“They can’t stop us,” he reminded me, shifting Teddy’s reins into my hands. “I don’t need their permission.”
Curling my fingers around the reins, I said, “But you’d want their approval?”
“Of course, I would. Who wouldn’t want their parents’ approval?”
But that wasn’t necessary for us since the marriage was temporary.
“As I’ve said before, I think they will be suspicious of my intentions, especially my mother. She knows I haven’t given up my brother.” He showed me how to guide Teddy so we weren’t going straight through the town center, but on the outskirts. “Both she and my father will seek to find numerous reasons why we should delay the marriage.”
If we couldn’t convince Alastir, I truly had no idea how we would sway his parents. “Once we’re married, then there’s nothing to be delayed.”
“Exactly.” His hand settled back on my hip. “This is another part that I don’t want you to overthink even though I know you probably will.”
“And I will probably have a good reason to do so.”
“That’s debatable, but nonetheless, I feel it would be in our best interests to wed here, in Spessa’s End.”
Although I suspected as much, my heart still skipped several beats. “In your best interests?”
“In our best interests,” he repeated. “Sooner or later, people would’ve learned of your abilities to relieve pain. If not by the arrival of those from New Haven, someone other than Beckett would’ve been injured. I just wasn’t expecting today. And while I don’t believe many will look upon you with fear for long or think of you as a Soul Eater, it would be wise for us to marry before anyone thinks to do something incredibly idiotic.”
Something incredibly idiotic translated into someone attempting to kill me.
“And we have everything here that we need to marry,” Casteel said as we climbed the sloping hill. “Or we will shortly.”
“What are those things that we need?”
“Well, rings, of course.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t being serious about the ring.”
“I know, but I still plan to gift you the largest diamond you’ve ever seen,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “But a simple Atlantian band will have to suffice for now.”
There were several more skips in my heart.
“The ceremony can be small. But we will need an officiant,” he continued. “Any head of a bloodline can officiate a marriage.”
“Alastir?”
“No. He does not speak for the wolven, even though he is among the oldest,” Casteel explained. “The wolven who does is named Jasper. And, luckily, he’ll be arriving in Spessa’s End by tomorrow. We can be married by the evening.”
My chest felt tight. In a little over twenty-four hours, we could be married. A rush of confusing emotions as conflicting as the ones the people had felt when I healed Beckett hit me.